New Delhi, September 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed that dropping Sanju Samson in favour of teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi during the T20I series in England left him unable to sleep, describing it as the toughest decision of his coaching tenure in the shortest format.
India dropped Samson after the first T20I of the five-match series in England in July, which the visitors lost. Samson, who had been named Player of the Tournament during India’s T20 World Cup triumph earlier this year, was replaced by Suryavanshi, who made his T20I debut in Manchester.
Samson later returned to the playing XI at Suryavanshi’s expense during India’s 3-0 T20I series win over Afghanistan, scoring consecutive half-centuries.
“In two years of my journey, that was the only night I could not sleep and I told this to Sanju because I knew that it was probably the toughest decision in my coaching tenure in a T20 format because someone who was player of the tournament, and then you have to leave him out after three or four games. And the reason was probably Vaibhav was in that kind of form as well, and we had to win the series,” Gambhir told JioStar ahead of India’s home season against the West Indies.
“Because ultimately you are there and when you are playing for India, or when you are coaching India, you want to win each and every series possible. I had a very, very honest conversation with him and I told him that that is one of the reasons why, because Vaibhav was in that kind of form, and we needed someone to score runs at the top, we needed that little bit of a platform at the top as well. And he was fine with it. And that’s a conversation which me and Sanju had, and he took it in good spirits,” he added.
Gambhir also stressed that young players such as Suryavanshi must sometimes wait for their opportunity, despite being in good form.
“I know, it is (tough). But then, I made him understand that I know you’re in good form, but sometimes with the players who have done well for a long time, you will have to wait for your opportunity,” he said.
Gambhir said decisions on the playing XI should not be influenced by social media or outside opinion.
“Social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing eleven. Playing eleven who, in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time,” he said.
He added that dropping established players after a few failures could undermine the continuity and security within the team.
“So sometimes you will have to wait for your opportunity and we still want to create that security in that dressing room. Because it is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions and we’ve taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek,” Gambhir said.
The India head coach also praised T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer for his selflessness as a leader. Gambhir and Iyer had worked together during Kolkata Knight Riders’ successful IPL 2024 campaign.
“The best thing I liked about Shreyas was that he was actually, at times, willing to leave his position as well at number four,” Gambhir said.
He highlighted Iyer’s willingness to sacrifice his batting position for the team’s needs, including maintaining a left-hand, right-hand combination or accommodating another player.
“That is when I realized that the first and foremost quality of a good leader – I’m not going to talk about captaincy – is how selfless you are and Shreyas has that quality,” Gambhir said.
He further argued that short-term setbacks should not lead to knee-jerk changes in the T20I side.
“Suddenly one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad side. So it was very important for us to have that continuity,” he said.
India will begin their home season against the West Indies with a three-match ODI series scheduled from September 27 to October 3.
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